Perth rentals soaked up in three month period to March 31

PERTH tenants in shared housing are taking advantage of improved rental rates in the market by going out on their own, according to reiwa.com analysis.

“There was a significant amount of leasing activity in the one to three-bedroom market over the March quarter, while four and five-bedroom properties experienced a small decline,” Real Estate Institute of WA president Hayden Groves said.

“Affordability in Perth’s rental market has improved over the past 18 months; tenants who may have been living in shared accommodation are now finding that they can afford to move out on their own, which is why we’re seeing this shift to smaller households.”

The data showed the leasing of one to three-bedroom properties surged 50 per cent in the March quarter, while the number of two and three-bedroom properties increased 18 per cent.

In the three months to March 31, the total volume of leased properties in the metro area increased 17 per cent on the December 2015 quarter.

“While rental listings in Perth remain above the long-term average, the number of properties leased in the March quarter has soared well above the growth of listings,” Mr Groves said.

“This has caused the vacancy rate to come down to 5.6 per cent in the March quarter from 6 per cent in the December quarter as tenants have soaked up stock.”

The sub-regions, Perth city, Fremantle and the western suburbs saw the biggest improvements in average leasing days, while it took longer on average to rent out a property in Joondalup south, Wanneroo north-west and Wanneroo south in the March quarter.